Plan of a Letter to the Baku Comrades[1]

Written:Written late February, 1921Published:First published in 1959 inLenin Miscellany XXXVI.

      Printed from the manuscript.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      3nd English Printing,

      Progress Publishers,1977,

      Moscow,Volume 42,

      pages277b-280a.Translated:Bernard IsaacsTranscription\Markup:D. WaltersPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2003).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

Confidential

ALetter to the Baku Comrades

Preliminary plan:

1.Differencesare beginning to arise on an extremely
important question.(Decision of theC.P.C. 1921, its text.)

2.Concessionsin Baku? example and crux of all differences, their “focus”.

3-8.Counter-arguments(A 1 - a 6).+8b i s.

9.Examineand refute them.

10.Economiccrux of the matter.

11.Giganticpolitical mistake.

12.Issueof principle.

13.Suggestedagreement.

14.Conclusion.

NB[Transcriber’s Note: The following sets of text,IthroughIIIandIVthroughVIare
bracketed with ‘ { ’and ‘ }’]

aI Chief phases of chiefII “arguments” (and chiefIII errors) of opponent

IVopponent’s “retreat”V “line of trenches behindVI which prejudice is trying to hide”

3. (aI) “Will not want to work for the capitalists, when
others next door are working for themselves.”

4. (aII) “Krasin is backed by Bogdatyan.”

Krasin:What, in point of principle,
is the gist of the disputes concerning
Krasin’s personality?Simply “a bourgeois specialist”!

Specialists’deceitquestion of the significance of
specialists and the attitude . towards them

4a. “Bourgeois specialist”? Out with him!

Wemust learn to use the “bourgeois specialist”, learn to
demand of him, to understand where his “strength” lies.

4b. “Well-behaved communist musicians”, who, may be a
bit out of tune, but don’t touch a

drop.[2]

5. (aIII) “Private capitalism is a predator, only state
power (nationalisation) iscapable ofrunning things rationally.”

6. (aIV) “It isn’t proved that we shall not be able to
obtain equipment ourselves.”

( =we’ll cope ourselves).

7. (aV) Won’t be able to control foreigners.

8. (aVI) Our specialists say: “problematical” (what
exactly is problematical and what must webe ableto demand of the
specialist).

8bis(a VII)Baku: catastrophe.I.Grozny: Variant.

¼ofoilwells,gear, etc.—the“rear” of advanced capitalism.

10.Economicquestion: is advanced capitalism superior to
us now in techniques and organisation?

10a.Can we now set ourselves the task of coping
on our own, or is this Left-wing childishness, or stupid doctrinairism?

10b.Should the problem necessarily be put this way: in
view of the gigantic danger of Soviet power’s breakdown as a result of
economic chaos and backwardness, the danger offalling behind, not
catching up’the problem must be put only this way-to catch up by
means of an alliance with foreign capital?

“Ifwe give up 1/4 and keep up with two-quarters that is
theideal,which we shall not attain in a year, and if we do it in
five years it will be a great victory.”

Thisis a business-like, not infantile, way of putting the
question.

11.Whydoes Σ mean a gigantic political error?Wrong evaluation of perspectives,relations of classesboth in Russia (proletariat, peasantry, bourgeoisie)
andthroughout the world.

12.Economicsignificance = (a) bloc withadvanced
statecapitalism againstpetty-bourgeoisandbackwardelement =
() bloc with oneimperialisttrust against another.

“Won’t be able to control?” Who? Tsarist and bourgeois officials?
We.

Giveup ¼? Training ideal. Give up ¼, catch up
with two-quarters (three-quarters unattainable ideal). Then in 30 years
(average concession term) we shall have a peaceful victory, and in 15
probably buy it back.Etwa:

13. § 1.Observationof up-to-date engineering rules.§ 2. Import of breadstuff, clothes, and other consumer goods
(for the workers of “their” enterprises).§ 3. Import of machinery.§ 4. All imports from abroad ( 2 and § 3) give us
one-quarter-one-third of the same product. (One “case” out of three falls
to our lot.)§ 5. We give a minimum (timber, for example) and for special
payment.§ 6. Our laws are compulsory.§ 7. We give “him” 50-75% of oil.§ 8. We feed up our workers and specialists in relays.§ 9. We learn in earnest, and don’t shout about “winning an
easy victory”.

14.Shouldwe try to find such concessionaires on such
conditions?  This is the only right way of putting the question.

[1]Themain part of this document (from the words “will not want to
work...” to the end) is in the form of notes made during a dis-cussion of
oil concessions, probably at a plenary meeting of the C.C., R.C.P.(B.) on
February 24, 1921. Lenin later rearranged the notes, numbered them (points
3-14) and used the free upper margin for a preliminary plan of his letter
(points 1-14). Lenin’s letter written according to this plan is not in the
Central Party Archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism of the CC. of
the C.P.S.U. The chief questions outlined in the plan were dealt with in
Lenin’s letter to A. P. Serebrovsky, Chairman of Aznef-tekom, Baku, dated
April 2, 1921 (seeCollected Works,Vol. 52, Fifth Russian Edition, Document 219).

Lowerdown the page mention is made of the decision of the C.P.C. on
oil concessions passed on February 1, 1921. The Coun- cil adopted Lenin’s
draft and approved in principle the granting of concessions on certain oil
districts of Baku and Grozny and other oilfields. For oil concessions see
alsoCollected Works, Vol. 42, Fifth Russian Edition,pp. 334-36,
and Vol. 52., Documents 143 and 205).

[2]Leninhere quotes from Krylov’s fable “Musicians”. In this fable a
landowner boasts of his serf choir to his neighbour. The singers had
neither ear nor voice, but the landowner did not think this mattered, as
the thing he most appreciated in people was sobriety and good
behaviour.